Pentagon Wants Kill Switch for Planes

The Pentagon’s non-lethal weapons division is looking for technologies that could "disable" aircraft, before they can take off from a runway — or block the planes from flying over a given city of stretch of land.

In a request for proposals, issued earlier this week, the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate announced that it would like arms-makers to come up with a way to "safely divert an aircraft in the air or stop and/or disable an aircraft on the ground." And no, shooting the thing with a missile doesn’t count. The Directorate wants "reversible effects which allow the targeted aircraft to be quickly returned to an operational condition with minimal time to repair."

The primary focus of the “divert an aircraft”
task is to control the airspace and enforce no-fly or restricted flight zones. Effects should be focused on the aircraft, not the pilot or other personnel on board. The capability should enable the enforcement of flight restriction zones (e.g., metropolitan Washington, D.C.), protection of critical infrastructure and other high value assets from a possible aerial threat.

For aircraft on the ground, “stop” requires the aircraft to come to 0 mph at some point between when it starts to taxi and when it reaches abort speed. The requirement to “disable” includes actions to render inoperable, deny use, and/or deny access to an aircraft on the ground. Successful accomplishment of either objective results in keeping the targeted aircraft from becoming airborne.

The
Directorate’s program managers don’t mention how engineers might pull off such a kill switch. But, however it’s done, they’d like to have a similar system for boats, as well. They’re looking for a device that can, from 100 meters away, "safely stop or significantly impede the movement" of vessels up to 40 feet long, with "minimal collateral damage."

The Directorate is also looking for new ways to stop people. One proposed project involves studying "thermal laser effects for non-lethal application." Research, the Directorate notes, should
"focus on understanding reversible health effects, pulsing methods, and effectiveness through clothing."